16 | MARCH.8.2013 | FRIDAY WEEKENDER: COVER STORY LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER | LEXGO.COM | 17 DEAR WATSON AND DEERSTALKER Even after 127 years, Sherlock Holmes has never grown old, sustained by generations of fans. Studio Players, bucking a recent trend of updating the sleuth, reverts to tradition in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

By Rich Copley [email protected] Not many 127-year-olds are as hot as Sherlock Holmes these days. Despite myriad new sleuths who have come along since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published the detective’s debut, A Study in Scarlet, in 1887, Holmes commands unique attention in JOHN P. FILO | CBS multiple formats and continents. In the CBS drama Elementary, Jonny Lee There are currently two Sherlock Miller plays a modern Sherlock, and Lucy Holmes TV series in production, by Liu is a female Dr. Watson. CBS and the BBC/PBS. Then there is the film franchise starring Robert IF YOU GO Downey Jr. ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ All of those Sherlocks put their own What: spins on the iconic sleuth. Tim Kelly’s stage adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock But in Lexington, theater troupe Holmes mystery. Studio Players aims to take us back When: to the roots of the stories with The 8 p.m. March 7-9, 15, 16, 22, 23, and 2:30 p.m. March 10, 17 and 24. Hound of the Baskervilles, opening COLIN HUTTON | HARTWOOD FILMS Where: this weekend. The wildly popular Masterpiece Mystery series places Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Carriage House Theatre, 154 W. Bell Ct. “A lot of the recent versions of Hol- Cumberbatch, left) and Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman) in the 21st century. LARRY NEUZEL | STUDIO PLAYERS Tickets: mes have him in the modern world, In Studio Players’ production of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Ron Hoctor, left, $19, $11 students. Available at using things like cell phones and DNA plays Barrymore, Robin Dickerson is Mrs. Barrymore, Rusty Rechenbach is Sherlock the Singletary Center for the Arts ticket office. Call (859) 257-4929 or go to testing,” says Gary McCormick, direc- Holmes and Graeme Hart, right, plays Watson. The play opened Thursday. tor of the Studio show. “I wanted to Singletarycenter.com. go back to a version of Holmes we’re in 1990 for CBS, starring Edward a female Watson in modern-day New all familiar with.” Woodward. York. It airs at 10 p.m. Thursdays. movies,” he says. “The problem is it’s Studio’s Hound of the Baskervilles “He methodically solved crimes,” Pogue says he prefers the BBC’s not Sherlock Holmes.” has Holmes smoking a pipe and wear- Pogue says. “He looked at the facts and Sherlock, now in its third season, star- What he misses in some of those ing the traditional deerstalker hat that deduced information from the things ring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes adaptations is the ability to play along. he has long been associated with. that were in front of him. It became and Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins “The thing with Conan Doyle is he There are a lot of common asso- the basis not only for detective litera- in last year’s The Hobbit) as Watson. would lay everything out there so you ciations with Holmes: his steadfast ture, but also crime investigation.” Like Elementary, Sherlock, seen in could play detective with Holmes, and sidekick, Dr. Watson; his address, Pogue says Holmes is something of the United States as part of PBS’s if you’re smart, you can figure it out,” 221B Baker Street in London; his in- a precursor to what is now a bench- Masterpiece series, places the detec- Pogue says. formants, the Baker Street Irregulars; mark TV format, the procedural drama tive in current days. That’s what McCormick hopes will and the exclamation “elementary.” such as the CSI and NCIS franchises. “It’s a brilliant modernization,” happen when audiences see Studio’s At the heart of it all is mystery, But he says, “Those are almost pure Pogue says. “They still made it per- adaptation — cap, pipe and all. says Georgetown resident Charles BARRY WETCHER | WARNER BROS. investigation without a lot of character sonal and still made it vital.” “It’s all about the mystery,” Ander- Edward Pogue, a playwright and The Sherlock Holmes film franchise starring Jude Law as Watson and Robert Downey development.” Sherlock reportedly won’t return to son says, “and good versus evil, and screenwriter. He has had wide experi- Jr. as Holmes presents the sleuth as an action hero, dispatching baddies by force. It seems little wonder, then, that American television until late this year the good guy winning.” ence with Holmes, including writ- television would bring Holmes back or early 2014. ing several television adaptations of “Sherlock Holmes was the first de- Baskervilles and The Sign of Four, into the procedural fold with Elemen- Pogue says he’s not a purist and Holmes and a stage play, The Ebony tective that made the art of detection both of which starred Ian Richard- tary. The hit CBS series is in its first has no major problems with any of the Rich Copley: (859) 231-3217. LARRY NEUZEL | STUDIO PLAYERS Ape, which has been performed in popular,” says Pogue, whose TV son as Holmes in 1983 for British season, starring Jonny Lee Miller as current Holmes incarnations. “There’s Twitter: @copiousnotes. Rusty Rechenbach plays Sherlock Holmes in Studio Players’ production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Lexington. adaptations include The Hound of the television, and Hands of a Murderer Holmes and, in a twist, Lucy Liu as great fun in the Robert Downey Blog: Copiousnotes.bloginky.com.